[Jeff Ellis]

I'll be the first to admit that when it comes to European blades my knowledge is near nothing, so I figured I'd go and ask the silly question that I cna not find an answer to, no matter where I look.

We Recently started a fecing club at school and the president keeps sayign that epee were historical. I know that the Epee was based off the small sword because people didnt want to give up dueling but had to, but not much else..

Can you guys help me out?

Basically, I would like confirmation that I'm not crazy for thinking the epee is a "newer" blade style..

Thanks!

[Nate C.]

The way I understand it, the smallsword gave way to the Foil first. The foil was used for a good space of time and was joined by the heavy bladed saber which eventually gave way to the modern light fencing saber. Somewhere in there after people had been sport fencing for a while, the Epee was introduced as a "dueling weapon." I think that the Epee may have been inspired by the rapier/smallsword but it is a pure sport weapon as far as I know.

I could of course be wrong so feel free to contradict me if you have better info.

Regards,
Nate C.

[Helen Miller]

I would agree with Nate C., the epee is a dueling sword. There is a small history of each of the three Olympic sport swords here http://www.fencing101.com/intro.php if you want to check it out. It's more like a small history of modern fencing. There is also an Epee book you could purchase some where on the site.

[David Black Mastro]

The pedigree of the three modern fencing weapons is as follows:

Foil: The foil (fleuret; floretto; spada d'exercizio) was originally a training tool for the smallsword. However, it should be noted that the Italians did not make any distinction between "fencing" and "swordfighting", thus every weapon was simply a "sword" (spada)--it was simply a matter of whether it was for practice (spada d'exercizio) or duelling (spada de duello). The Italians made duelling weapons that are considered to simply be stiffer, sharp-tipped foils.

Epee: The epee began its life as a duelling weapon (epee de combat) in the early 19th century. It can essentially be viewed as a replacement for the smallsword. The Italians later introduced their own version, which, like the sharpened version of their foil, was known as a spada de duello.

Ultimately, the epee was made in a rebated form, and fought as another sport weapon. It's lack of convention (right-of-way) indicates its origins as a duelling weapon (in other words, the rules reflected the reality of combat--if both fencers are hit, both are hurt).

Saber: The modern saber (sabre; sciabola) is essentially derived from the light Italian duelling saber (sciabola de terreno), otherwise referred to as the "Radaellian" type (after Giuseppe Radaelli, the North Italian maestro who pioneered its use). The "Radaellian" saber differed from the modern weapon in that it was a more substantial sword (20.8 ounces, vs. about 15 oz for the modern sport weapon), and its blade was slightly curved. In addition, the manner of use was different--the trademark of the "Radaellian" method was the use of strong, circular cuts delivered from the elbow (molinelli), as opposed to the cuts that are delivered from the fingers and wrist in modern saber-play (although it's interesting to note that heavier military swords like basket-hilts were often fenced with cuts that predominantly came from the wrist, FWIW).